FAA waives rules, says paid-pilots can guide whooping cranes to Florida using bird-like plane
Just a couple of days ago the FAA said the program to use paid pilots to accompany the Whooping Cranes on their first migration flight was illegal. After pressure was applied to the FAA, they granted a "one time" waiver for the program:
The pilots of the bird-like aircraft that has been leading nine young whooping cranes to their winter home in Florida have been granted a special exemption by federal regulators to continue their journey.
The Federal Aviation Administration has provided a one-time waiver to Operation Migration, a conservation organization trying to re-establish an Eastern flyway for whooping cranes by teaching young birds how to make the flight.
Operation Migration ran into trouble with the FAA because it pays salaries to pilots. FAA regulations say sport planes — a category that sometimes includes aircraft of exotic design — can only be flown for personal use. “Because the operation is in ‘mid-migration,’ the FAA is granting a one-time exemption so the migration can be completed,” the agency said in a statement. “The FAA will work with Operation Migration to develop a more comprehensive, long-term solution.
It's nice to see them bend to common sense, but the fact that they insist on working out a different solution suggests that they aren't very sincere, and they're just trying to put a public relations problem behind them. Expect to see the same problem next year
Good for them.
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